MTL - My Brother-in-law is the Prince-Chapter 37 Emperor's troubles

  Chapter 37 The troubles of the emperor's grandson

  Zhu Gaochi said: "What happened to the East Palace?"

   "Ah... What did you say, Your Highness?"

   "What happened to the East Palace?"

   "Oh, oh, good luck to you, Your Highness, and your servants are also thinking of Your Highness, Your Highness... When you were in Yanwang Mansion in Beiping, you were well-behaved and sensible, and your servants..."

  Zhu Gaochi: "..."

  Zhu Gaochi simply ignored him, hastened his pace, and hurried into the depths of the inner city.

  In the distance...in the several temples of Nuo Da, there were noisy voices.

  Zhu Gaochi entered a hall, and seeing it... he almost lost his breath.

  I saw a set of looms on display, and hundreds of maids and eunuchs were skillfully spinning and weaving yarn.

  In the corner, bundles of gauze were piled high.

  On the pillars in the hall, there are pieces of red paper hanging, and the red paper reads: "Safety in production is greater than the sky!"

  Or: "Be careful with candles, and keep away from fire."

  Zhu Gaochi: "..."

   Zhu Gaochi also met Deng Jian.

  Deng Jian was smiling, shuttled around the looms everywhere without touching the ground, occasionally stopped, stopped in front of a clumsy court lady, and then gave her a demonstration in person.

  Or, go to the mountain of finished products to check the quality of the gauze.

  Zhu Gaochi almost passed out, barely holding his body.

   At this time, someone finally discovered Zhu Gaochi, so he hurriedly stood up and saluted: "I have seen His Royal Highness the Prince."

  The rest of the people heard the movement, but they didn't dare to stand up and salute.

  Zhu Gaochi was really in a bad mood at this time, he just yelled at Deng Jian: "Come on!"

  Deng Jian was taken aback, and hurriedly followed Zhu Gaochi out.

  Zhu Gaochi was furious, pointed to the hall and said: "Is this plausible? Is this the East Palace? Are there any rules, are there any laws of the king?"

  Deng Jian said: "This is decided by the Crown Princess and Mrs. Zhang, slave... slave..."

  He originally wanted to say that the slaves also objected. Of course, he soon realized that as a slave, he should not shift the responsibility to the master, so he hurriedly said: "The slave will die."

  Zhu Gaochi said: "Go and call Zhang Anshi, go and call him."

  Deng Jian responded, and quickly went to call someone.

   Arriving at the side hall, Zhu Gaochi sat down and hugged the teacup. When Zhang Anshi came, he wanted to scold others with a sullen face, but seeing Zhang Anshi panting, he called brother-in-law crisply when he came.

  Zhu Gaochi's face softened slightly, and he said, "Sit down."

   "Oh." Zhang Anshi sat down obediently.

  Zhu Gaochi said: "What happened to the East Palace?"

Zhang Anshi naturally understood what his brother-in-law asked, so he said: "Spinning, brother-in-law, look, Songjiang is the source of spinning in the world, but if you really want to talk about the production of cotton yarn, who in the world can compare with the palace? If you talk about manpower, the palace There are enough manpower in the palace, how many people are there, and the quality of manpower, the women in this palace are well-behaved and obedient..."

  Zhang Anshi’s words are reasonable. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the germination of capitalism was discovered in the Jiangnan area. The reason for this was the emergence of a large number of handicrafts, and many businessmen began to gather female workers for production.

   Now in the Songjiang area, there are actually sporadic signs of this, but the scale is extremely small, and most of them are small workshops based on family units.

  In this world, is there any place more suitable for workshops than the East Palace?

Think about it, there are hundreds of idle court ladies and eunuchs inside, and they are all ingenious people, and the age is appropriate. The most important thing is that there is no shortage of venues. Most of the East Palace is empty palaces, which are most suitable for workshops up.

  Zhu Gaochi suppressed his hand: "Don't tell me this, I will just ask you, is this reasonable?"

Zhang Anshi said: "It's unreasonable, why is it unreasonable, brother-in-law, you forgot, when Empress Ci Xiaogao was here, she was spinning in the palace, brother-in-law and elder sister sent the loom to the palace, isn't Xu Niangniang also very happy ? What does this mean?"

  Zhu Gaochi: "..."

  Zhang Anshidao: "I also heard from my sister that after seeing the spinning machine, His Majesty and the empress were very happy, saying that brother-in-law and sister-in-law have not forgotten their roots. Brother-in-law... You see, we must not forget our roots."

   Zhu Gaochi was speechless.

Zhang Anshi said again: "So I discussed it with my sister, we also have to weave, we must follow the example of Empress Ci Xiao Gao, not only my sister must set an example in person, everyone in the palace must start their hands, Taizu Gao The emperor said, "Your salary, your salary, the people's fat and the people's anointment. Listen, how good this is."

  Zhu Gaochi thought for a while, but still felt that something was wrong: "However, the Eastern Palace is really outrageous. This palace still wants to prohibit it."

  Zhang Anshi was in a hurry: "Brother-in-law, don't, I have invested all my money in it, and I will wait for the output to earn money..."

"what?"

Zhang Anshi lowered his head and said: "I invited many craftsmen to manufacture this spinning machine, and bought a lot of cotton, which cost more than ten thousand taels of silver. This is not only my own money, it is all my money A good brother became a shareholder, and another old man, seeing that I was born extraordinary, even though he met me by accident, he waved his hand and gave me a lot of money. I will use his money for business. If my brother-in-law refuses, I will I just folded it all in, and it’s better for myself to lose money, but I can’t be sorry to others! Brother-in-law, you don’t want me to be a person who doesn’t keep promises, do you?”

  Zhu Gaochi frowned deeply all of a sudden, and said, "Are you still doing business? Are you doing business with the East Palace?"

Zhang Anshidao: "Brother-in-law, you can't say that. This is self-reliance, and you don't forget the legacy of Emperor Gao and Empress Ci Xiao Gao. Besides, I give money. Cotton yarn is paid at 30 Wen per catty, and all the money is given to me. Sister."

  Zhu Gaochi had an angry expression on his face. Hearing this, his expression was a little stiff. He stood up and was silent for a long time. After all, he just said: "I just came back from Xiaoling, I'm a little tired, and I'm going to take a bath and rest."

  …

  The palaces of the East Palace are busy with production.

  Zhang Anshi sat comfortably on the high threshold in front of the hall, holding a popsicle in his hand.

   This popsicle is a rare item in the market, but it couldn’t be easier to make in the East Palace. There is a special ice cellar in the East Palace. Zhang Anshi took mung bean soup and frozen it in the ice cellar, and the popsicle was made.

  He comfortably licked the mung bean popsicles with a hint of sweetness, while watching the sound of silk threads and shuttles coming from the spinning machines one after another, he felt an indescribable joy in his heart.

   Sitting side by side with Zhang Anshi on the threshold was Zhu Zhanji.

  Zhu Zhanji stared sideways at the popsicle in Zhang Anshi's hand, swallowing and spitting continuously.

  Zhang Anshi patted his head: "Zhanji, you can't eat this, it will make your stomach cold. You are too young to be sick."

   Zhu Zhanji frowned.

Zhang Anshi pointed to the eunuchs and palace maids who were making yarn in the distance, and said with pride: "In the past, on the looms, one person could produce one or two catties of yarn a day and night, but uncle's spinning machine can produce eight catties to 10 catties a day and night." Ten catties. Zhan Ji, you can’t always think about eating, you have to have big ambitions, and you have to be like Uncle.”

  Zhu Zhanji frowned, held his chin and said, "Uncle, I'm very worried."

   "Are you worried that you won't be able to do a big business in the future?"

  Zhu Zhanji shook his head: "I always feel that sooner or later, you will be beaten to death by Grandpa Huang."

  Zhang Anshi became angry from embarrassment, and immediately said with a sullen face: "What kind of words are you talking about? What kind of a wise person is Your Majesty, who would discriminate between loyalty and traitor? I will punish you not to speak to me for three days."

  Zhu Zhanji: "..."

  …

  Zhang Anshi's thirty-third day of a new life.

  In the warehouse of the East Palace, the cotton yarn was piled up like a mountain. Zhang Anshi took samples and summoned Zhang Fu and Zhu Yong.

  The three of them gathered at Zhang's house first.

  Zhang Fu was the first to come, looking excited.

   Zhu Yong came limping, with bright red palm marks on his face.

  When Zhang Anshi saw Zhu Yong like this, he couldn't help saying: "Second brother, what's wrong with you?"

  Zhu Yong stiffened his neck, and said stubbornly: "It's nothing, just taught my father a lesson yesterday, let him learn more from his elder brother, and don't live in a daze all day long."

  Zhang Anshi glanced at Zhu Yong with a look of concern for mentally handicapped children: "Then your father beat you?"

  Zhu Yong proudly said: "My father wouldn't dare to hit me. I taught him a lesson. Although he is unhappy, he still accepts it obediently. Otherwise, when the dividend comes, he won't be given a dime."

  Zhang Anshi looked at his face and asked suspiciously, "Then who beat you?"

"My father didn't hit me..." Zhu Yong paused, and said dejectedly: "But my mother held me and gave me a good beating, saying that my wings were hard, and she dared to teach my father, my mother was too ruthless, Brother, do you have any medicine, I think it would be better to treat it."

  Zhang Anshi: "..."

  The most ruthless person in the Zhu family is Zhu Yong's mother? Well, I have to write this down, it will be useful later.

  (end of this chapter)